Liquid containers for dropping by aircraft



April 16, 1957 R. MARELLE 2,738,821

LIQUID CONTAINERS FOR DROPPING BY AIRCRAFT.

Filed Aug. 10, 1954 a l 2 a. I

United States Patent LI UID CONTAINERS FOR DROPPING BY AIRCRAFT Rene Marelle, Paris, France Application August 10, 1954, Serial No. 448,851

Claims priority, application France August 13, 1953 3 Claims. (Cl. 150-1) The invention has for its object a vessel intended to contain liquid and being capable of being dropped to the ground from an aircraft without requiring to be furnished with a parachute.

It is important that the said vessel has a well defined position when it reaches the ground and it is indispensable that at that moment it should resist the force which tends to burst it.

This novel arrangement is attained by way of assuming automatically during the fall a position of stability and resistance to the bursting force.

It is attained in principle by a flat container having in the centre part a pocket containing the liquid and a series of holding means surrounding the pocket which hold the liquid if the pocket bursts on impact with the ground.

Preferably it is attained by an impermeable joinable container possessing a degree of rigidity and the holding means are obtained by virtue of joinings or bellows arranged annularly or polygonally concentric with or surrounding the central pocket. The line of joinings or of the bellows may be continuous or discontinuous.

The appended drawing illustrates schematically and as a non-limiting example one manner of carrying the invention into effect.

Figure 1 is a transverse section.

Figure 2 is a view in plan.

Figure 3 and Figure 4 are two detail views on an enlarged scale.

As is seen in the drawings the new droppable container is constituted by an envelope a of an impermeable and joinable material possessing a degree of rigidity. For example it can be made in rubber or in a plastic material such as vinyl chloride.

The two opposite sides are sewn at b around the whole of the perimeter. They are joined together following a circular line 0 which forms a pocket at for containing the liquid.

Around this pocket are formed circular holding devices or barriers e. These holding devices are able to be produced by joining the two sides as indicated diagrammatically in Figure 3 or by the bellows 3, Figure 4, joined to the two sides. It is possible of course to combine these two methods.

Thanks to this arrangement stability during the fall is assured. In efiect during the fall the liquid is maintained 2,788,821 Patented Apr. 16, 1957 in the small centre pocket and the sides of the large pocket act in the capacity of wing stabilisers. In this way the assembly stabilises itself horizontally in the fall and annuls rapidly the lateral component due to the speed of aircraft and falls practically vertically.

The pocket containing the liquid meets the ground always in the same conditions, that is to say fiat, the laterally acting component forces resulting in the conversion of the force due to free fall of the bulk of the liquid considered as a lateral shock wave, are opposed by the successive holding means established between the centre and the sides of the envelope. Each of these holding means has for its purpose to break only a part of the shock wave of the liquid, the last before complete cancellation.

In other words if the pocket d bursts at the time of impact with the ground the liquid is held back by the first holding device e. If this first holding device gives way in its turn the second comes into action and so on.

It is observed that the envelope must have a resistance to tearing greater than that of the barriers in a manner such that under the pressure of the shock wave of the liquid it is the barrier which gives way and not the envelope.

The envelope may be constituted by a permeable support provided internally with an impermeable film g. In this case it is to this film that the barriers adhere or which constitutes the barrier. The support may be of any material whatsoever. It will suflice if the support and the joinable impermeable coating can adhere in a satisfactory manner.

The invention is not limited to the method hereinbefore described which is only given by way of example.

I claim:

1. A droppable liquid container formed of two sheets of impermeable material fixed together along a continuous line in the central part thereof so as to form a central pocket in which the liquid is adapted to be closed with large marginal flat parts, and yieldable successive barriers being formed between said two sheets around the periphery of said central pocket along spaced closed lines, said yieldable successive barriers each being adapted for retaining the liquid.

2. A droppable liquid container as claimed in claim 1, in which said yieldable successive continuous barriers are formed by joining directly said two sheets along said lines.

3. A droppable liquid container as claimed in claim 1 in which said yieldable successive continuous barriers are formed by inner distensible members fixed between said sheets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,607,626 Hoppinson Nov. 23, 1926 2,024,908 Blum Dec. 17, 1935 2,203,591 Brown June 4, 1940 2,245,738 Taylor June 17, 1941 2,335,159 Salfisberg Nov. 23, 1943 

